Hi everyone, we should list scam sites or scam deals so that these people can't find any more victims. Here are some things that should alert you when you see them. If it is too good to be true, it probably is. If the site offers jobs, but asks you to pay first, it is a scam If the site offers discounts, but asks you to pay a fee first, it is a scam If the site states things that are not clear to you, it is a scam If the site has bad reviews, it is a scam If the site has no reviews, it is suspicious... If you mail and nobody answers, it is not a good sign. If you do get in touch with someone, you can search him at an engine. You will be able to find a profile if the person exists If the site offers discounts, but you have to buy something irrelevant first, for example their e-book, it is suspicious.
Any Chinese "wholesale" website should be stayed away from. As a little lest, I ordered something from one, and it was a cheap knockoff (I knew that buying it..). Keep your money close and buy from a reputable website, not some knockoff website where the customer service can only say, "hello" and "how can i help u".
Wow, everything you have put here is of very importance! We all can learn from this post. With every thing revolving around the internet these days we all have to be very cautious and when in doubt, check the person or site on an search engine. Thank you again!
These are all very good tips and we need to be aware of them on a daily basis anymore. I have got into the habit of doing a search on the internet on a product or a company before I buy certain items now. It is amazing what comes up when you put the word reviews, problems, scam or complaints in front of the name on the search engine. I always read what other folks are saying now before I decide to purchase. Thanks for posting this!
This is a very well thought out list of what to be aware of. Thank you for this. This is actually a pretty important share you have here.
Excellent advice! While I would think that most people who spend time thinking about how to save money are pretty smart about how they spend their money, the truth is it's all too easy to get sucked into a scam. If a site is US based, I'll look up the company on the Better Business Bureau website. And just Googling for scam with a company or website name is a great way to find out if something is legitimate. Finding reviews others make, like here, is the best way I've found to avoid being scammed. Word of mouth and all that... Power to the people!
I was offered a position at Alpine Access and they said I had to pay $45 dollars for a background check before I could start and it had to be paid in 24 hours. I won't be working there. I have read too many bad reviews about them, even though they are a legit company.
They did me the same way. I just told them no thank you. We shouldn't have to pay in order to get paid.
I think that's the most important point to take from this thread, although the others are also very relevant. The thing is, when people are after your money, they can be very persuasive, and put forward a really good case. When people are looking for ways to earn extra money, there's often a touch of desperation there, and they think that it's worth investing a little money to get a lot back. However, as Christi says, you should never pay to get paid. Think of it like this: if you went to Walmart for a job, and they asked you to hand over some cash first, you'd walk right out the door, wouldn't you? Well, it's the same principle with online jobs. It's only a virtual door you're slamming, but your hard-earned cash is real, and it should be used for genuine purposes, not to line the pockets of some scam merchant.
Your advice is so true. You should not pay to get paid. Companies/websites that ask for a membership fee before you can earn are not worth a cent.
Once I bought something from Chinese-wholesale-dress , it arrived on time but the quality was awful! So awful! I will buy again from them but only rings or scarfes.
There are a lot of new websites that appear out of nowhere with way too good to be true offers. The thing is some of them actually got real offers, besides the majority that are obvious scams. Either way I always search for reviews online, even for half an hour to convince myself that the website is not a scam. With the wide methods to market online these days, you can have all kinds of surprises online, and I'm not talking about good surprises in any way.
I've seen so many get-rich-quick schemes come from Clickbank, that I always avoid their products. Sites that supposedly pay you to read emails, may, or may not be scams. I've yet to be paid by one of them, and they certainly do not pay enough to cover your Internet access expense. I always stay away from a company that won't tell you exactly what they do unless you make a purchase.
I only mostly agree with you. I once (reluctantly) paid $40 for a list of "reputable" companies that hire mystery shoppers, with a "money back guarantee" if you don't make any money. Sounds sketchy already, doesn't it? Actually, it was indeed a list of reputable mystery shopping companies, and I've been working with them for a good five years now. I'm glad I didn't trust my instinct in that case, haha!
I purchased a pair of shoes from a online retailer in Hong Kong. When the shoes arrived they were totally different from the picture I saw online. I kept checking the site to see if they made a mistake. The quality of the shoes were in bad condition there were errors in the sewing, and the soles in the shoes were wet. I tried to call the business, but their website was taken down. Be careful ordering things online, read reviews and see if the establishment is legit.
This is, for the most part, true. The only thing with bad reviews is you have to make sure they are consistently poor for the same reasons across multiple sites. Don't listen to those WOT (Web of Trust) ratings for websites. I've been paid by many legit sites that were in the "red" which is essentially them calling the website scam and evil. You've got to make sure you know who's writing those bad reviews first, it could be someone with a personal vendetta against a legit place that banned them after they were caught cheating or something.
To add to that, I've been paid to write positive reviews for products before . So, it's very important to read reviews from different places. Find a pattern. That's why I usually ask people on a forum I'm in, since the responses will be legit.
This is a great list. I hope everyone knows how to do a "reverse search" of a phone number on a Search Engine to see what comes up. You can do the same with an email address. I received an offer of a loan by email and did a reverse search only to find that it was listed on a web page of known scam artists. One poor man was taken for quite a lot of money. Thank goodness he posted what happened online so I could dodge that bullet! The best protection is to do a LOT of research and if you cannot get enough information about a company or person, then quickly turn away.
Thanks for posting this. I'm very annoyed of those sites that keeps on spamming my mail with their offers asking me to subscribe to them and pay for their training so I could earn a lot of money in just a week. I hope Google does something about them.
Spot on. I very much agree with the part about the job scams. I remember getting scammed with a Mystery Shopper scam website once. They charged me a whopping 99 dollars to just access an account. They never gave me any leads, and wanted to keep the charge as a monthy recurring fee. I said pfft to that. And I have never paid for any other online career, business kit, scam site again.
